Strengthening entrepreneurs- Fortaleciendo Emprendedores

30 agosto, 20152 septiembre, 2015

Neuro-linguistic programming for entrepreneurs

Robert Krause

By: Robert Krause

Petra Gúčiková

Neuro-linguistic programming for entrepreneurs

It has been written a lot about the Neuro-linguistic Programming though there has not been written much about the potential of Neuro-linguistic Programming for entrenpreneurs and growthing of their businesses. Therefore, in this article I will draw on my experiences with this method linked with my scientific work on this topic. Currently, in my doctoral studies I am trying to verify the way how NLP affects the decision making process of managers and entrepreneurs. In this article I will introduce you to various methods that you can put into practice immediately to start to grow the potential of your business and in the communication with your clients. During my lectures I work with people on the level of hypnotic communication, which I will talk more in the next article, but now I want you while reading the next lines NOT to realize your posture, your breathing, foot contact with the ground. Perhaps you have realized that this is not possible. And this is the first method that you can use in contact with other people.

Great example of using this teqnique and its potential is a documentary reality show movie directed by two Czech film directors, called Czech dream. It documents a large-scale fraud perpetrated on the Czech public, culminating in the opening event of a fake hypermarket in the neighborhood of Prague. The film was their graduation project for film school. The directors invented the a fake hypermarket called ´´Czech dream´´ and created a massive advertising campaign around it. Posing as businessmen, the two film students managed to persuade an publicity agency and a public relations agency to create a massive campaign for them. Billboards appeared on Czech highways, and 200,000 pamphlets were distributed in Prague. A jingle was recorded, and there was a series of television commercials. Although we are not talking about the traditional marketing campaign, this was a controversial one. Why? Because the advertising campaign slogans were saying “DON’T COME” and “DON’T SPEND”, etc. Still, the filmmakers succeeded in attracting more than 3000 shoppers to an empty plain for their “grand opening”. What looked like a huge building from a distance was actually only a canvas facade backed by scaffolding. When the managers cut a ribbon, the barricades were removed, and people could walk or run towards the facade. When the “customers” finally realized that they had been deceived, they reacted in different ways. Some understood the filmmakers’ message, some tried to take it optimistically (“At least we had some fresh air”), but most were angry, and many decided to blame the government. The idea for the fraud emerged from the growing concern in the country about the growth of advertising and consumerism. The movie won prices at verious festivals.

The participants of my trainings use the benefit of this kind of communication also in personal life situations such a marital strife: ,, Please, do not stop screaming NOW. ” Only in this sentence there is hidden a suggestion in order to prevent the other person from screaming and also the analogue marking – NOW.

What is analogue marking? Analogue Marking in NLP is a verbal or non verbal cue to mark out words in a sentence or mark out space – marking out specific words with pause. For example if I want someone to scratch their nose I might say “I saw a SCRATCH on a car which might have been YOUR car, who KNOWS”. The unconscious mind cannot distinguish between knows and nose. So the message received by the person´s unconscious mind is: SCRATCH YOUR NOSE. This NLP technique that is often used during hypnosis to aid the subject to take on the learning. It confuses the conscious mind and thus allows direct access to the unconscious mind, which is where change takes place. The conscious mind hears the whole sentence, the powerful unconscious mind hears just the words that are marked out.

Maybe even you, as you read these words, you start to think how would you immediately transferred it into the practice. And if you have not started yet, so you are starting probably NOW 🙂 You might have been wondering: how you can use analogue marking in sales? For example if you talk to a group of potential customers and you use SCRATCH YOUR NOSE analogue marking, you should focus your sales effort on those people, that scratched their nose because they were most responsive to your embedded command. That, by the way, is how stage hypnotists choose the ‘volunteers’ who will be coming up to participate in the show.

While reading the previous lines, you might not realize the other technique being used in NLP and which is called Dear John- speaking over “3rd “person.

Our brain can more quickly absorb the information when it is not directly aiming to us. That is the reason why we love stories. But in the stories there is hidden a secret of many techniques of NLP. A master storyteller, Scheherazade with her fascinating stories of One Thousand and One Nights compels the king to forget the real world in which he plans to execute her and instead live the world of the narrative.

But morning overtook Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence. Then Dinarzad said, “What a strange and entertaining story!” Shahrazad replied, “What is this compared with what I shall tell you tomorrow night if the king spares me and lets me live!” The following night Shahrazad said. . . .

(Haddawy, 1990:1)

Scheherazade uses her stories to humanize the king and stop his bloodbath. As you can remeber One Thousand and One Nights start with a king who discovers that his wife is having an affair. In a fit of rage, he has her executed. From that night, he decreed a law that he will marry a virgin every single day and then kill her at dawn.The killing continues until Scheherazade, the daughter of the king’s vizier, offers herself as the king’s bride.

Every night, Scheherazade starts telling the king a story, then stops at a crucial moment, just as dawn breaks. The king spares her life so he can hear the rest of the story the next night.The king’s curiosity kept Shahrazad alive, day after day. She narrated under the threats of execution but during her narratives gave bithds to three children. And in the end, the king removed the sentence of death, and they lived happily ever after.Stories are a part of human nature as breath and the circulation of the blood. Storytelling is intrinsic to our brain. We cannot escape it. We are all, like Scheherazade, under sentence of execution, and we all think of our lives as narratives, with beginnings, middles and ends. Stories keep part of us alive after the end of our story.

¿So what is the message here? It is very simple. You either tell story to your customers or your business will die.

For example the story of the participants of NLP training that use the NLP techniques in marital conflicts sounded to your inner voice, more acceptable than if I write:,, Use this technique as follows …. ” Our brains loves examples, methaporhs, analogies.

NLP techniques are according to many people manipulative. I agree and I would like to add that in communication it is impossible not to communicate – so it is impossible not to manipulate. Another technique within NLP is called reframing and now I will use it and replace the word manipulate to influence. But I want you to learn to use it in communication with other people as the investment ideas, not the cost ones. I want you to learn how to affect other people in the way which arouses pleasant feelings in them. The feelings are just the feedback on our ideas. If you change the information you are receiving, you will change thoughts that you are creating. At the same time it will change your feelings, which influence your behavior, and your behaviour creates your results. Indeed, I do believe that you have at least tasted how you can benefit the knowledge of NLP method techniques not only for yourself but also for your customers.

Robert Krause: psychologist, NLP Master from American University of NLP, Practioner, Hypnotist, Coach. CEO & Founder of Ropsy consutancy firm. At his age (24) he has trained companies from pharmaceutical, financial and customer service sectors in neurolinguistic programming. Currently studing doctoral degree on the effect of NLP methods in reducing cognitive biases of managers as ways to improve the quality of their decisions – robert@robertkrause.eu

Petra Gúčiková: neuropsychologist, economist, CEO & Founder of Synapsia. A company of neuromarketing whose mission is to break down the wall of misunderstanding between brands and their consumers and uses the most advanced neurophysiological technology for neurofeedback and biofeedback training. petragucikova@gmail.com